Preview: The Pill Base Camp In Courmayeur, Italy Across July 2 – 3, 2023

The Pill Basecamp is a Running, Trail Running, Hiking and Climbing Test and Expo event in one aimed specifically at retailers and buyers. The event will take place in Courmayeur, the setting for such iconic events such as the UTMB and the Tor des Géants.

Courmayeur lies at the foot of the Mont Blanc massif, in a verdant amphitheatre surrounded by forests, mountains and glaciers and offering direct access to trails for running and walking to the highest crags, enabling retailers to test onsite in a real environment. All the latest equipment will be on offer for testing and the location will provide easy access to outdoor workshops.

This year’s expo event will take place indoors, in the Courmayeur Sport Center, which boasts an exhibition area with immense windows looking out over the mountains. Hotels, activities and the brand Expo will be very close to each other, so as to create an atmosphere of connection between shops and brands, as well as easy access to the trails for all the workshops and testing activities.

Last year’s summer launch event was a huge success with 52 brands booking 920mq of exhibition space, 131 shops, 242 buyers, 164 sales & marketing managers and 26 journalists. 1,460 running & trail shoes, 980 hiking & trekking boots and 860 clothing products were on display and available for testing.

Now in its second summer edition and the fourth one considering also the winter Base Camp in Sestriere, the event will feature more than 100 brands and over 200 retailers are expected to take part. Bursting with presentations, previews, talks, clinics, product tests and workshops it will also allow relaxed moments to engage with colleagues from the outdoor world.

The exhibitor list at the time of going to print was:

ASICS, Treksta, Diadora, Patagonia, Dynafit, Wild Country, Petzl, Altra, La Sportiva, Ortovox, Mammut, On Running, Rab, Lowe, Ferrino, Hannah Outdoor, Julbo, Icebreacker
Aku, Kayland, Trezeta, Grivel, Alba, Scott, Calze GM, Cober, Craft, Hdry, Kailas, Lowa
Masters, Rafiki
Rock Experience, Scarpa, Sunday Afternoon, Tecnica, Topo, Zamberlan
Asolo, Barts, Brooks, Cebe, Elbec, Klean Kanteen, CMP, Vaude, Meindl, Devold, Sea to Summit, Salewa, Hydroflask, Lupine, Silva, Spektrum, VickyWood, HOKA and Norman

The two day event program is as follows:

From 9pm onwards, on the Sunday evening before the event opens, there will be a welcome party with music and beers at The Pill Base Camp at “Cafè des Guides”.

On Monday, the event opens at 9.30am with an introductory presentation at the Pill Base Camp Expo, this is followed by two workshops: The Impact Studio with Arc’teryx looking at upcycling and the Ferino workshop on Repair & Upcycling.

Every hour from 11am until the close at 5.30pm, there will be tests of different shoe categories led by local guides or pro trail runners. In the evening, there is an aperitivo at 7pm followed by dinner at 9pm. Overnight on Monday – for the intrepid – there is a tented community to sleep in with views of Mont Blanc.

On the Tuesday, the program is the same, except for at 2pm, when an ascent of the SkyWay (with a surprise) is available to 50 lucky people. You need to sign up for this as soon as possible. Additional side events include an Ortovox Rock Safety Experience, a run with Asics, a trail session with Sterrato and a climbing session with Brocchi sui Blocchi

The town is easily accessible all year round via the Aosta Valley motorway, which connects Turin to the Mont Blanc tunnel. This is the mountain event that gives everyone the chance to combine work with pleasure so be sure to book yourself a spot. See you there!